When Life Gives You Bunnies
by Puppet String
Summary: A girl makes friends with Crona in the forest as children, and a promise is made to meet as grown-ups to return a special item lent to one of them. When the girl sees Crona in the future, and understands just what kind of an unstable person he is, she needs to make a choice: Accept that her friend is gone, or try to make his old self resurface? Dark themes, also rated for language.
1. A Promise

Deep, hungry-looking shadows hid large portions of the woods. There was very little sound-in fact, all that could be heard was faint birdsong, miles away from the sound of it. There was only one path, and it was only about a foot and a half thick. To any passer by, it could easily be mistaken as some sort of old, unused game trail.

Still, it was Rin's only hope.

At age six, she really didn't know what to do. Being lost and alone in the woods was horrifying! To top that, she'd never been in these woods before, and there weren't any usual noises in these woods to make them less scary. It was as though nature its self was telling her to flee-trying to warn her that everything that entered the woods ended up dead.

However, being a naive little child, she couldn't comprehend such high-thought matters. The only things running through her mind were ideas of how she might find help or her way back home.

'_Maybe I'll find them here in the woods,_' she thought, '_Maybe they ran away from the fire in the same direction as me. Nobody ever comes in here, so we wouldn't have been chased by the scary men, right? Or does that mean that my family ran the other way, and I'm just getting farther from them by the step? Maybe I should turn back?_'

She looked over her shoulder, back towards where she thought her house would be. Was turning back a possibility? She'd run pretty blindly from the blaze for the first few minutes. Even on her short legs, that gave enough time to get pretty far away and very, very lost.

'_I don't think I could find my way back..._'

Tears made her eyes sting and caused her vision to blur. This place was scary and foreign- how was she supposed to know what to do? She was only six. She always followed everybody else's lead. All the grown ups showed her where to go- her parents, her teachers, her babysitter, and even her big brother. He was seven, so he knew a lot more than her about everything. He'd even told her that the world was round, like a ball. That meant you couldn't walk over the edge and fall off. To her, that was a huge relief because for a long time, she'd thought that the hills on the horizon, distant from her house and swallowing the sun each evening marked the edge of the world and that if she ever ran off in that direction she'd fall off into nothingness. That meant falling forever and ever, and she didn't like the feeling of falling, so that sounded horrible.

The woods, on the other hand, seemed to go on for a much longer time. Since her brother had told that the world was round, she had edited her theory to think that the hills marked the edge of the woods. If they started right behind her house, and seemed to go on forever, that must mean that they looped around the entire world all the way until they touched the other side of the hills by her house. That would make sense, right?

Her mother had told her that bad things came out of the woods. The men who had attacked them came from over the hill. If bad things came from the woods, and the bad men came from the other side of the hill, it only made her more sure that they'd come from the same woods but on the other side of the hill.

That meant that by going through these woods, she would be getting closer to home. Forward it was! She'd walk for as long as it took- longer than the longest time-out or math test. She'd walk right through dinner and stay up past her bedtime if necessary!

Rin would walk for as long as it took to get home. Since she thought she could see the start and endpoints of the other part of the world, she assumed that it wouldn't take too long. Long enough to be boring, like a math test or a time-out, but not long enough to be too horrible to comprehend, like that gap in between Easter and the start of summer vacation.

Feeling reassured, she took up her steps in the direction away from- or rather, toward in a different direction- her house. She walked for what seemed like at least forty minutes before she heard a voice.

It didn't sound like a parent or a teacher or a babysitter, but it did sound like someone older than her. What a relief! Maybe that grown up could help her.

She ran forward, stumbling over roots and tripping occasionally over bumps in the ground until she could see someone sitting on a rock, facing away from her. He was taking to someone, and he sounded upset.

"Ow! Quit it! You can't do that-it's not fair! Ragnarok, stop it!"

It kind of sounded like when she and her brother were fighting. Still, a grown up was a grown up, and she had to try and get help.

Tentatively, she approached until she was near enough to reach out and touch the thing the boy was arguing with. She wasn't used to strangers, so asking for help from one was very scary. She'd never been outside of the little valley town where she lived. There were a few homes, full of neighbors she'd seen at least a few times before, a school house with a small population of children she'd seen on an almost daily basis since the year before, when her education began, and a little church building in the middle of town, surrounded by a small line of food shops and general stores for things needed to repair homes, make clothing, and so on. There was never any need for her family to leave town, so they never had. At least, not in Rin's life. Maybe the fact that strangers were unfamiliar was what made them so scary to her.

"Um...E-excuse me," She stammered, her voice shrinking and growing higher than it already was, "I'm Rin. I got lost, and I need to find the valley on the other side of the world. Can you help? You sound older. Grown ups know more, right? I'm only five."

The two boys broke apart and stopped arguing. Well, one wasn't really a boy, so to speak, but more of a young male blob of black with white parts sticking out of the other boy and fighting with him.

"I'm Ragnarok and that's Crona. We're six and a half, so why should we help a stupid little five year old like you? Buzz off!"

Rin backed away a little bit, but still didn't leave.

"Please?" She begged, "I really need help! I have to find the other end of this forest so I can make it around the world and go home to the valley!"

The other boy spoke up.

"Ragnarok, I've never seen a strange girl before. I don't know how to deal with this!"

He looked just as nervous as Rin.

"Quiet, Crona! Let me talk, you just sit there and wait to pick up where we left off! It's your fault Lady Medusa made us stay out here in the first place! You should have just said you were still afraid of the room! It wasn't so bad in there-at least we didn't have to worry about little kids coming up to us!"

He started twisting the smaller boy's nose.

"Ow! Ragnarok, it hurts! Stop twisting my nose-I'll get another nosebleed! Stop it!"

Rin ran forward. She'd seen bullies at the schoolhouse do the same thing to some of the other kids.

"Ragnarok, stop! He doesn't like it, and my teacher says that when another kid doesn't like when you're doing or if it hurts them you need to stop and apologize or you'll get a time out!"

Ragnarok stopped, pulling away. If that was true, he'd be extending his and Crona's time out in the woodsby twisting Crona's nose. He didn't want that.

'Ow...Ragnarok, look! Now you gave me a nosebleed..."

Rin crept forward, holding out a napkin she had in her pocket. It was left over from snack time the day before- she hadn't used it, so she'd decided to keep in in case she needed to wipe her hands or blow her nose later. However, this boy- Crona- looked like he needed it to stop his nosebleed. She'd gotten those before, and she knew how scary they could be.

"Here," She offered, holding out the napkin, "T-try this. When I got a nosebleed, the school nurse told me to hold my nose with a napkin and tilt my head back-but not too far, or else it'll run down in my tummy and give me a tummy ache."

Crona took the napkin, and everyone stayed quiet for a few minutes until her removed it and tested to see if it had stopped. Fortunately, it had. It was a good thing, because Rin only had one napkin.

"Thanks," Crona said quietly, handing her the bloody napkin, "You can have it back, if you want. If I let someone borrow something, I'd want it back."

Rin took her napkin, but was confused. Crona smiled shyly.

"Did you know my blood is black?"

Rin shook her head.

"No. Mine's usually red or dark red. Is that bad? Should my blood be black, too?"

Crona shook his head.

"No- Lady Medusa says my blood is special since it's black. She says that everyone else has red blood, except for me."

Rin looked at the soaked napkin.

"Oh. Cool! What does it do? Can you fly? Can you shoot laser beams, like my brother says some superheros can from their eyes?"

Crona shook his head.

"Ragnorak can make me fly, but I can't shoot laser beams. That would be fun, though! Lady Medusa said I'll learn how to do more cool things with my blood as I get older. Neat, huh?"

Rin nodded.

"But I'm still lost...Do you know the way to the other side of the world? I need to get back to the valley."

Ragnarok laughed.

"Wow! You really are stupid, you little five year old! The other side of the world is really, really far away, and there are oceans in the way, and other big pieces of land! Did you think these woods went on forever or something until they reached your stupid valley again?"

Tears streaked down Rin's face.

"Y-Yes! N-Now how w-will I get ba-back home? I'm n-never going to find the v-valey again!" She sobbed, wishing she'd turned back when she knew where the little trail was. Now she'd be lost forever!

Crona began shaking, and his eyes welled with tears.

"Wait, don't cry! I d-don't know how to deal with crying! Stop it!"

Rin tried to dry her eyes on her coat's sleeve. She always wore that coat, no matter where she went. It was a fluffy pink parka with white imitation fur trim on the sleeves, neck, hood, and bottom of it. She'd only gotten a new coat once, so far as she remembered, and her parents had bought one that looked almost exactly like her last one so she'd still be comfortable in it and she could let her old parka go.

Soon, she succeded, but when she spoke, her voice was still tight and her eyes stung a little.

"S-Sorry, Crona. I'm just scared and lost. I want to go home!"

Crona wiped his eyes, too.

"That's o-okay, I cry too, sometimes."

Ragnarok broke in.

"You two babies shut up! If we're all here, we might as well do something fun. Time out sucks!"

Rin nodded.

"I have a cookie we could share..." She told them, reaching into her pocket for it. Yesterday's snack time seemed to yield very useful things for today, even if she wasn't feeling well enough to eat her cookie when she'd gotten it.

She broke it in three fairly even pieces, taking the smallest for herself. Crona reahced for the biggest, but Ragnarok took it first.

"Hey, no fair! Ragnarok, you always get the biggest piece!"

Ragnarok turned away.

"Shut up! I get the biggest piece because I'm stronger than both of you!"

Rin broke off some of her piece and handed it to Crona, along with his third of the cookie.

"Here...You can have some of my piece, too. I'm not very hungry today, either."

Crona smiled a little.

"Thank you. What was your name again? I forgot..."

Ragnarok hit him.

"Who cares? As long as she gave us some cookie, it doesn't matter!"

Rin ignored him.

"I'm Rin." She told them, looking at the ground. "After we finish our snack, can we play a game?"

Ragnarok raised his arms.

"A game! I'll win for sure! Let's wrestle!"

Crona frowned.

"No, Ragnarok, I don't like wrestling with you! You always win and you always keep hitting me after I say uncle!"

Rin shuddered. That sounded like no fun!

"What about if we play a guessing game? Like charades?"

Ragnarok thought for a moment.

"Fine, but I get to go first!"

Crona didn't argue this time. He'd had his fill of nose squishes for the day. Rin didn't really mind going last, so she just sat quietly while Ragnarok made his indications.

'_Two words..._'

Rin edged forward a little.

'_First word: One syllable. Second word: Two syllables._'

Ragnarok pointed at his eye.

"Seeing?"

Rin guessed.

Ragnarok shook his head.

Crona liiked up.

"Ex?"

Ragnarok punched him, then shook his head.

"Hey, you can't punch him! My momma says hitting is wrong and you shouldn't hit other kids, so stop hitting Crona, please!"

Ragnarok looked at her, then reeled back and gave her a strong fist to the nose, too. She was blown over and found herself with a badly scraped knee from the landing and a bloody nose from the initial punch.

Tears welled within her eyes. She grit her teeth and stood up.

"RAGNAROK, THAT WAS MEAN! You're a big old bully and I don't like you! What's wrong with you, anyway? Not manly enough to punch anyone except girls and poor Crona? You've been a meanie to him for too long! No wonder you have no friends- it's just a shame Crona has to deal with it, too! I hope you do something really embarrassing, like spill juice on yourself during snack time!"

She was so mad, she didn't even know where to begin. Still, somehow the first words had gotten out. And yet, she wasn't finished yet. She needed to do something to prove how angry she was. She needed to take matters into her own blood-soaked hands.

She marched right up to Ragnarok, looked him in the eye, and smacked him.

"Next time I'll smack you harder! But this time I didn't really want to hurt you because friends shouldn't hurt their other friends. But now we're both bad guys so if there's another time-out we won't be all alone."

Ragnarok considered knocking her out and leaving her in the woods. However, she'd just called him her friend...That was new. Sometimes, people wanted to be friends with Crona, but it was rare for them to want to be his friend, too. To be honest, he sort of liked the prospect of not being hated.

"Fine..." He growled, "But if you ever hit me again, I'm going to beat the Hell out of you!"

Rin took the napkin she'd given Crona and began to compress her knee with it. It was obviously pretty bad cut- very deep. It'd probably take her two weeks to heal, especially if it got reopened even once.

Her bloody nose trickled down onto the napkin as she looked down at it, and soon the worn out piece of paper was soaked to the point of uselessness. It had already handled one nosebleed, and this was just too much for it.

Rin sighed. She was still bleeding, but it wasn't as bad anymore. She felt bad for hitting Ragnarok- even if he'd deserved it, being a meanie head and all.

Crona stood up, rubbing his arm, and walked over to Rin. He wouldn't make eye contact, but his sort-of smile was still there.

"I-I don't know how to deal with nosebleeds very well, but Ragnarok thinks he knows the way b-back to your village...If you want, I think we c-could lead you..."

Rin smiled, wiping her eyes.

"Thank you, Crona. Thank you, Ragnarok. I'm sorry I hit you."

Ragnarok crossed his arms.

"Psh, whatever. A scrawny little girl's hit didn't hurt anyway. C'mon, we gotta get you back home before Lady Medusa finds us missing and makes our time-out longer!"

Rin stood up, and the three began heading through the forest. They talked and laughed quietly on the way back. The three had taken a liking to each other- they had become friends. Ragnarok wasn't so hasty to admit it to himself, but he was beginning to regret giving Rin a nosebleed. It made him feel a little bad. Still, she was over it, so he lost interest in his guilt fairly quickly.

When they reached the edge of the woods, Rin looked out to see what was left of her poor home.

It lay in charred, smoking ruins. There was no sign of her family, and she had no idea where to go. She didn't want to cry in front of Crona again, though. That'd make him upset, after all. It was bad enough she'd have to leave her new friends so early, but crying would just be the icing on the cake for an emotional breakdown.

Rin turned, forced a smile, and held back her tears. She hugged Crona and Ragnarok, just as she hugged all her friends when she said goodbye after school or after a play date.

"Bye-bye, Crona. Bye-bye, Ragnarok. Can we play again soon sometime?"

Crona rubbed his arm.

"I don't think Lady Medusa will let us...You'd have to come find us on time-out again, if possible. But you might get lost in the woods and then something scary might happen and I don't think I could deal with it if something scary happened to the only friend Ragnarok and I have..."

Rin looked at her feet.

"Oh. Well, maybe when I'm a grown up like my brother- he's seven- I can go look for you? And maybe he'll come with, and you could meet him? I think Ragnarok would like him! He likes to wrestle and play fight."

Crona nodded.

"O-okay. Maybe. But we'll still be more grown-up than you because then we'll be eight and a half!"

Rin smiled.

"Kay."

She reached into her parka's pocket one last time while in the company of her friends. Carefully, she grasped a tiny object. It was soft, slightly worn, and very, very familiar to her.

She pulled out her little stuffed bunny, Jessie, and held her out carefully. She'd had Jessie for as long as she could remember. The tiny stuffed rabbit- only about the size of her little hand was at the time- had been her friend for years. She knew Jessie would be a good friend to Crona, too.

"Here," She offered, setting Jessie in Crona's hand, "You can keep Jessie until we see each other again when we're grown-ups. She's really nice. She'll be your friend while I'm gone. But, if you don't mind, I'd like to see her again when we find each other as grown-ups. She's my favorite, and I'll miss her, but I think you could really use her softness more than me right now, so you can borrow her for as long as it takes."

Crona hugged the little stuffed rabbit close.

"O-Okay. Thank you. I promise I'll give her back when we're grown-ups. I'll keep her with me in my pocket every day until then, in case we find each other. I promise."

Ragnarok cut in.

"I'll make sure he keeps his promise! And I'll help hide Jessie, too, in case Lady Medusa doesn't approve. It's easier for me to hide things than Crona, since I can disappear and he can't!"

Rin Hugged them both once more.

"Thank you. I'll see you again when we're grown-ups!"

Crona and Ragnarok nodded.

"When we're grown ups!" They agreed before breaking the hug.

They watched as Rin wandered off into the valley quietly, noticing that she glanced vack over her shoulder a couple times to wave bye-bye again before they lost sight of her.

"Bye, Rin," Crona said quietly, still waving a little, "I'll take good care of Jessie. You'll see. I think I know how to deal with her..."

* * *

Okay, this is the end of Chapter One. Sorry it's so long- it sets an important base for later in the story.

If the characters are OOC, my bad. I'll try to improve but if I don't, I'm sorry. Please note that this story will get darker-this was a very innocent chapter, since they were all kids, but in the future you can expect some pretty disturbing stuff, so be warned.

I'll try to leave a note at the top of chapters with extra dark material as a warning.


	2. A Reunion

Rin sat on her bed, wishing she didn't feel like crap.

'_Leave it to me to get the flu on the night of the school's anniversary party. I heard that the food was going to be great, too... But I guess I couldn't have gone, anyway. Who would I go with? Nobody asked me. Nobody even knows me. I've been here for two whole months and I still haven't even managed to find a partner yet... I've got to be the most useless student on campus!_'

She sighed, tucking her knees to her chest. After she'd lost her parents at age five to the fire, she and her brother had turned to the church for help. Unfortunately, there were no families looking to adopt in the area, so the two had been sent away to various other cities where adoption fairs were being held.

During one of the voyages to a new adoption fair, the ship Rin and her brother were traveling on was caught in a storm and wound up sinking. Rin had been shoved into a lifeboat by a man screaming, "Women and children first!"

Her brother, however, had stayed on board to help. Rin had no idea where he'd gone after that. According to the coast guard, no fatalities were confirmed, but there were a few heads unaccounted for. Before Rin could be sure if her brother was one of the missing, she'd been loaded onto another boat and sent out to another adoption fair, where she (as usual) was no selected and was stuffed back on a boat to go to a new town in hopes of being adopted.

By then, she'd turned fifteen, and had decided to run off. She was through with being rejected, and she was sick of moving everywhere. The last time she'd been on a landing ship, she quietly slid through the crowds of other children and had managed to slip into the woods. From there, she'd taken off running without a glance back over her shoulder.

After three days, she had found a little place in the woods to set up camp. An oak tree had died, but it still stood with a wide trunk that had been hollowed out for some time. Rin adopted this as her shelter, set up a fire a few feet away, and had taken to eating whatever she could find in the woods. She had sharpened a stick to catch fish from the creek, and had found an old coffee can to boil water in.

It wasn't a life of luxury, but to her, it beat the depressing scene on board the boats.

Then, one day, a young girl with pigtails and her partner, a white-haired boy with red eyes, had wandered past her camp. She'd offered them a meal of some fish with wild herbs, and they'd all talked a little bit.

As it turned out, the girl and her partner were on their way back from some sort of mission. They told her that they were heading to the DWMA, and that she should come enroll. The prospect of a real bed and other people to socialize with were too attractive of an offer to turn down, so Rin had wound up tagging along.

She had no money to begin with, so she'd started out as what most would essentially call a hobo on the streets, but one of the local shop owners had told her that, if she wanted to, she could work around the shop for a few days a week and make some extra money. After a month, she'd saved enough to rent what she wanted to consider an apartment in the stone chambers where the school kept prisoners.

She still had a parka, nearly identical to the one she had when she was five, and her looks hadn't changed a whole lot, either.

She'd always had long brown hair, hazel eyes, and a rather scrawny appearance. She had always preferred tennis shoes to things like heels or Mary-Janes, and she usually wore black pants. Occasionally, she'd throw on a pair of blue jeans to go hiking, but that was about it. No skirts, and no dresses.

Now, in her room, she started blankly at the wall. Being sick was awful, and she'd been looking forward to the party enough to buy a nicer sweater. She knew it wasn't exactly formal wear, but a nice sweater and a pair of nice pants seemed good enough to her for someone who was just going to stand around the buffet table all night.

'_Good thing I didn't splurge and buy a stupid dress..._'

She looked out the window. The moon was sure pretty. She could hear some music drifting from the party, along with some laughing and general cheery sounds.

'_How could I miss that? It could have been my chance to find a partner! If there was anyone at DWMA like me, with no partner, they would have been there! This is so infuriating!_'

She balled her fists.

'_If my brother was here, maybe I wouldn't be alone. We couldn't have been paired up, but he was always less afraid of people than I am. Maybe he could have helped..._'

She tossed her pillow across her room, wanting to scream but afraid that it would alarm someone.

Instead, she just groaned angrily.

Then, something outside her window caught her eye. There were people standing on the rooftops, and they looked scary. They were hidden under long, hooded capes, so their faces were invisible. Whoever they were, they didn't look like they belonged in Death City.

'_Uh-oh! Maybe I should tell a teacher! Wait, there are no teachers...Not unless I go to the party. Maybe I should go. I have a valid excuse now. The safety of the school and its inhabitants could be in jeopardy, after all. But then again, what if it's nothing and I end up looking stupid? That would be just what I need... Maybe I should ignore them and stay down here, where it's safe._'

She looked around her empty room, then at herself. She'd been in bed for the last two days. If she stayed any longer, she thought she'd go mad.

'_Oh, fuck it. I already look like an idiot._'

She put on her sweater, her pants, and pulled her parka over the top of it. If anyone had a problem, she could always take it off later, right?

She began heading through the twisting maze of stone. Eventually, she found herself totally lost in some passage she'd never been in before. There were no cells, so she doubted she was in the dungeon anymore, but the corridor had to lead somewhere, right?

Suddenly, the ceiling above her opened up and people fell out of it.

Before her, she saw Stein, Maka, Black*Star, and Kid standing up, while Tsubaki, Soul, and the Thompson Sisters had all landed flat on their asses.

"HOLY CRAP, WHAT DID I DO WRONG THIS TIME?" Rin screeched, assuming it was her fault. She'd messed up quite a bit in the past couple months at the academy, so she had adjusted to assuming that pretty much anything that went wrong while she was present was her fault. Surely if the ceiling opened up and a bunch of people fell out of it, something bad must be happening, right? And if she was present, it had to be her fault.

Stein glanced over.

"I didn't see you get shoved into a coffin."

"Coffin? You were in coffins?" Rin wasn't sure that was her fault.

Her question was left unanswered. Stein explained the situation- someone was trying to awake a Kishin that was trapped beneath the school, and everyone present needed to pitch in and stop it from happening.

Maka's dad showed up, and then they encountered the school nurse, Medusa.

She ended up being a witch.

'_I hate school._'

Rin caught blips of the plan. Stein would hold off medusa, the others would go on ahead, yadda, yadda, yadda.

Then, Stein told the students to promise him they wouldn't die.

"Er..." Rin began awkwardly, 'I'm not sure I'd be comfortable making that promise. I'm pretty useless without a partner, I have no idea who the people you just named as opponents are, and I really wouldn't want to die with a broken promise hanging over my head..."

Stein shrugged.

"I wasn't really taking to you- I don't really care whether you're part of the plan or if you just go sit in your room or something. I haven't really seen you do anything, so...Yeah. Sorry, kid. You're welcome to tag along with Maka and the others if you'd like."

Rin frowned.

"Forget it! I'm finding the stairs!"

Medusa grinned.

"That way."

She gestured behind her.

"No way! You'll stab me with your arrow things!" Rin crossed her arms. She didn't want to be a student on a stick.

Medusa raised her eyebrow.

"He just openly admitted that you're useless. If I attack, it'll give the others an opening. Besides, I have someone waiting to deal with you..."

That was good enough for Rin. She crept past, never taking her eyes off Medusa until she thought she was out of range.

"Well, that was easy. Now, where are the bloody stairs? There has to be a ladder or something, at the very least."

She continued down the corridor until she reached a more open room. In the middle stood a pink-haired figure, clutching a long, black sword.

"Excuse me?" She called, walking up. Maybe it was another student! He'd know where the stairs were! "Can you help me find the-HOLY CRAP! WHAT THE HELL WAS THAT FOR?"

She'd just barely managed to duck before the sword whipped past where her throat would have been moments earlier.

"Lady Medusa said that Ragnarok and I have to stop everyone who tries to pass. She said we've got to kill them so they don't stop the others..."

Rin kept her hands over her neck, but looked up.

"Did you just say Ragnarok?"

Crona didn't meed her gaze.

"Pass."

"What?"

"Pass!"

Ragnarok grinned.

"Yeah, so what if he did? What's it to you?"

Rin tried to think of something to say. How could she make him remember? Oh- that was it!

"Crona, do you still have Jessie in your pocket?"

Crona turned and started at her in horror.

"How did you know about- Wait...I know you."

He looked closer.

"You look a lot different now that you have your front teeth, Rin...I don't know how to deal with this!"

Ragnarok grinned.

"Kill her! That's what Lady Medusa said to do!"

Rin yelped in alarm.

"KILL ME? What the Hell, Ragnarok? Er...How about pointing me in the right direction for the stairs? Please? I'LL GET ANOTHER COOKIE. You can keep Jessie!"

Crona clutched his arm.

"I can't deal with this right now! Just...Just shut up!"

He hit Rin across the face with the blunt side of his blade. While she was stunned, he seized the opportunity to close the distance between them, raising his weapon for attack.

'_Well, fuck!_' Rin thought, unable to get the "stand up" command down to her limbs.

She slammed her eyes shut as Ragnarok came down hard on her head.


	3. An Argument

Rin opened her eyes slowly. Where was she again? Why did her head hurt so bad?

'_Oh, that's right. I went and got the bloody flu right before the night of the dance, didn't I ? Man, I was such an idiot for believing in that whole 'Three second Rule' bullshit. I guess I ought to go take some medicine, though. I don't want me fever getting any higher than a hundred and two._'

She tried to stand up, only to find that her legs were stuck up against her chest and her arms were wrapped about them. She was tied up rather sloppily and laying across a stone floor, facing the wall.

'_For the love of God, what did I do wrong this time? I didn't even go to class today! I couldn't have messed up that badly._'

She flopped onto her back and rolled over, trying to get into a position where she could see the room around her rather than just the wall. She gazed out through bleary eyes across a huge room, spotting two figures standing in the middle.

'_Is that Maka? And who's that? Wait, I remember now! Crona hit me with Ragnarok! No wonder my head hurts! Man, what was that for? What a dick move. I'm going to roll over there and give him a piece of my mind. If he's the one who tied me up, I'm going to hide his socks really, really well so that it will take a long time to find them!_'

She began rolling and inching her way over like a spastic worm, watching carefully. Suddenly, the talking stopped and fighting broke out. Stabbing, slashing, jumping, and general bad things were going down.

'_Maybe I should just sit tight until they've worked it out._' She thought, realizing that she was easy pickings while she was like this.

It looked like Crona was winning at first, then Maka absolutely lost it. She definitely wasn't herself- she was acting more like Stein when he was angry. Angry Stein scared Rin quite a bit. She didn't like sharp things. Especially needles and scalpels.

Then, the fighting stopped. Maka and Crona were just standing there.

'_I wanna see what's happening!_' Rin thought, intrigued. '_What's going on inside their heads?_'

She smirked.

'_One way to find out!_'

She closed her eyes and took a deep breath. She focused on Crona's soul wavelength, trying to match it.

It took longer than usual for her to find the right wavelength, but she managed to get it right long enough to connect. Almost instantly, she was sucked into some dry, shitty, sand-covered place. She saw Crona sitting along in a circle, crying. He looked to be about the age he'd been when they met in the woods, so many years ago.

'_Poor Crona_,' She thought, '_Why's he crying? Maybe I should go talk to him_.'

Then she realized she was still bound up and now very small- even smaller than she was outside of this place. She was the size she was at age five.

'_Dammit! It took forever to grow to five feet! Now I can't be much bigger than three feet tall...I really hope this'll wear off._'

She began to wiggle forward slowly. If Crona needed her, she could at least give a shot at making it over to help him. She kept her face down, trying to focus as she went inch by inch.

"Stay back!No one can come inside the line I drew. This is my area; it's just for me!"

'_Oh._'

"Okay, Crona," She mumbled, "But I hope you feel better soon."

He acted like he was talking to someone, but Rin could't see who.

"I don't know how to deal with other people, so I feel safer in here all by myself. Now, it's ruined! It won't work anymore. Not with you here."

Rin looked. The circle looked okay to her!

"No it isn't, Crona. You're fine! Really! I promise I'll stay out here if it makes you feel better."

"No! Stop it! Please, don't erase my circle!"

Rin was confused.

"I didn't!"

Crona stood there for a second, starting blankly.

"AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!"

He lost it, screaming as loud as Rin had ever heard anyone scream before. It shocked her so badly that she lost connection with him, plummeting back into reality.

Crona stood, throwing a huge tantrum and shooting spikes everywhere.

"Cool!" Rin squeaked. "I wish I could do that!"

Then, she saw Maka hug him. What the fuck was that bitch doing? She was just beating the shit out of him moments earlier!

After that, she hit him with a book. That was just wrong. Then, she offered her hand. Was she crazy or something?

'_Oh, no! She made Crona cry! Oh, she's going down! Nobody does that to my friend!_'

Rin rolled forward determinedly. However, when she looked up again, Maka had just left and Crona was grappling with Ragnarok.

"Quit it, Ragnarok! Ow! Stop it, that hurts!"

Rin rolled forward.

"I'll save you, Crona!"

Quickly, she wiggled to his aid, standing up as best she could. She wasn't tiny anymore, thankfully, so when she stood up she was able to latch onto Ragnarok's arm with her not-s-razor sharp teeth.

"Get off, you little brat!" Ragnarok spat, knocking her off of himself and across the floor. Rin considered her options: Play dead, or get up and fight for Crona?

'_Pft, forget my well-being. I'm already pretty fucked up as it is! I'm coming, Crona!_'

She attempted to stand up, only to find that she couldn't feel anything below her neck.

'_Well...Shit. I guess that leaves playing dead._'

Crona and Ragnarok quit arguing, and for a moment, the room was utterly silent.

"You killed her, Ragnarok! She was our friend!"

Ragnarok was quiet for a little while, then piped up tentatively,

"Maybe she's just sleeping?"

Crona shook his head.

"I don't hear her snoring, Ragnarok. I really think she's dead! What do we do?"

Ragnarok growled in irritation.

"It's not my fault she couldn't take a punch-even from me like this! even from someone my size! Besides, we've killed lots before. What's the problem here?"

Crona shook his head sadly.

"We've never killed a friend before. I don't like how it feels."

Rin didn't like making Crona feel so awful.

"I'm not dead!" She croaked.

Crona jumped in surprise.

"ZOMBIE!"

Rin groaned.

"No, not a zombie! Just Rin. I think Ragnarok paralyzed me, though." She frowned. "Ass hole! I was just trying to keep you from beating on Crona. Why do you still do that? It makes him feel awful about himself. You know, if he commits suicide, you're going with him! How smart do you feel now?"

Ragnarok lost any sense of remorse.

"Hey, he wouldn't do something that stupid! Besides, even if he tried, I'd stop him."

Rin scoffed.

"You would, huh? What if you didn't catch it? What if he swallowed something too fast, or what if he just gave up in the middle of a fight and dropped you? Then what, Ragnarok? Then we'd both be down one Crona, and for me, that means losing my oldest friend! I don't like that."

Ragnarok turned his back as best he could.

"I'd figure out something. Anyway, I don't need this bullshit! Screw you both!"

He dissolved back into Crona, leaving the two in silence.

Rin groaned.

"Fuck!"

Crona knelt down in concern.

"Are you okay? Do you hurt?"

Rin grit her teeth.

"No, but I'm an idiot. Now I'll never get up the damn stairs!"

Then, suddenly, something broke into the room. It rippled past Crona and Rin like water at the beach. Shock siezed the girl as she realized what it was.

'_Is that a wavelength of pure madness? Oh, shit! Now we're in trouble!_'


	4. A Day on the Job

Crona seemed to have sensed it, too.

"Uh...Rin? Now what? I think the Kishin is awake!"

Rin had no idea what the Kishin was.

"I don't know! I don't even know what this Kishin thing is. Is it some kind of wild animal or something?"

Crona shook his head.

"No...It's much worse. He's pretty much the physical embodiment of fear and madness, as far as I know."

Rin weighed her options once more.

'_Finding the stairs is out of the question of me,_' she decided, '_But Crona can still get out before that thing gets here. If he gets here and I can't move yet, Crona might not leave. If he doesn't leave, that means both of us get finished off. However, if he does leave, I stand absolutely no chance against this thing._' She frowned. '_Well, I can't just leave Crona here like a sitting duck. Now I just have to think of a way to get him out..._' She grinned. Maybe Ragnarok wasn't such a big shit for paralyzing her.

"Crona, if that thing comes out here and I'm still paralyzed, I'm dead. I need you to run to the nurse's office and find me the medicine the school nurse had stocked up to treat people like me who were paralyzed in battle. I don't know where it is, exactly, but it has a picture of a little person standing up holding onto a little bag. Can you find it? Please?"

Crona nodded.

"I'll go get it- you stay here!"

Rin rolled her eyes.

"Don't worry, I won't run off. One more thing: I want you to promise me not to hurt any teachers or students on the way here. If you do, they probably won't take surrender as an option, and I don't want you getting killed."

Crona nodded.

"I promise."

With that, he raced off down the hall toward the ladder that led up.

Rin smirked.

'_Nothing in that office has a picture of a person holding a bag on it. He can turn that room upside down and never find any medicine like that. So now, it's just a waiting game. I just hope the Kishin comes here before Crona quits and turns back._'

Crona ran as fast as he could down the hallway, back toward his mother. The stairs would be just past her. Since she was the school nurse, she might even be able to help him find the medicine!

'_No...If I ask her, she'll just kill Rin...I'll need some sort of excuse._'

However, that was proven wrong when he ran past Professor Stein, splattered in blood and laughing like a madman. As soon as the not-so-good Doctor saw Crona run past, however, he tackled the boy to the ground and blasted him with his soul wavelength.

"Where do you think you're going?" He asked Crona, frowning. Crona did his best to struggle, but to no avail.

"Let go! I have to get to the nurse's office! Rin says the medicine's in there!"

Stein leaned in close.

"What medicine would that be?"

Crona kept flailing about, trying to tear free of Stein's grasp.

"The medicine with a picture of a person holding a bag on it! It'll make it so she can move again!"

Stein grinned.

"There's no medicine in that office with any picture like that on it. You're lying."

Crona kicked and threw mad punches, screaming.

"No! She told me! It has to be in there- she told me it would be!"

Stein picked up the flailing boy, keeping him in a headlock.

"If you're so sure, show me where she is. Be warned: If you're lying, you aren't walking away from me in one piece. In fact, I doubt you'll be walking- or breathing, for that matter- ever again."

Crona pointed down the hall in the direction from which he'd come.

"She's down there! Come on!"

Stein walked down the passage cautiously, keeping Crona restrained and paying no heed to the boy's complaints about getting blood all over him. When they reached the large brick room, Rin was still laying in the middle in an aggravated heap.

"Rin!" Crona yelled, kicking, "Rin, I'm back!"

Rin groaned. She was facing away from Crona, and hadn't heard him run back in.

"WHY? There's no way you found the medicine! GET OUT OF HERE!"

Stein released the blood-covered swordsman and hurried to Rin.

"What happened?"

Rin frowned.

"Ragnarok hit me now I can't feel anything below my neck and I can't move and you need to haul Crona's ass out of here before the Kishin finds either of you!"

Stein shrugged.

"He can walk. You can't."

He grabbed Rin's wrist and flung her over his shoulder.

"Hey! What are you doing? Put me down! I don't want to be dissected! Or vivisected, for that matter! Let go!"

Stein ignored her and turned to Crona.

"You live for now. But here's a choice for you: Fight me, or surrender?"

He clutched Spirit, preparing for another battle.

Crona looked at his feet.

"I surrender."

Stein nodded.

"You're officially the prisoner of the DWMA. You'll be staying in the dungeon until Lord Death decides what to do with you. Now, Rin has an appointment with the Doctor. You come with me. Cause any trouble and I'll kill you."

Spirit changed back to his human form and grabbed Crona, shoving him forward and marching him out of the room as he and Stein continued to ignore Rin as she screamed about not wanting to be dissected.

'_On days like this,_' He thought, grimacing, '_I hate my job._'

Stein, meanwhile, was grinning.

'_Days like this make me love my job._'


	5. Making a Break for It

Rin awoke the next day in a bed in the infirmary. As soon as she realized that she wasn't in her room, her first instinct was to throw off the sheets and make sure that there were no scars anywhere that hadn't been on her the day prior. However, when she tried to move, she found herself still paralyzed.

'_Well, this sucks! Now what do I do? How can I be sure I haven't been vivisected already?_'

She thought for a moment.

'_I'll just try my best to remember what happened after the Kishin woke up yesterday. Then I should be able to tell!_'

She did her best to remember anything past screaming and begging the professor to put her down. The first thing she could recall past that was being carried upstairs to the infirmary where she laid currently and thrown across the room, nearly flying out the window.

"Whoops." Stein had said to her, "My aim was off."

She hadn't believed him, of course. He'd been smirking.

After that, he'd grabbed her by the collar and propped her up on the bed.

"Sit still and keep quiet. I have to go speak to Lord Death right now, but Nygus will be in momentarily to assess the damage done to you."

Rin grimaced.

"What's going to happen to Crona?" She demanded, fearing for her friend's physical well-being.

Stein shrugged.

"Whatever Lord Death decides should happen to him."

The old creep had then ignored any further questions and let Rin propped up poorly all alone in the little room.

Rin recalled that the way Stein had positioned her was very half-ass, and it hadn't taken long for her to slip off to her left and fall out of bed flat on her face with no way to get up until about half an hour later when Nygus found her and laid her down properly.

"You're paralyzed," she'd announced, "But it isn't permanent. Stein suggested that I give you these to speed up the healing process. He said that with them, you'll be bedridden for about a day and a half. Without them, you'll be stuck in here for close to a week. I'd strongly suggest taking these."

She held out a handful of tiny, white pellets.

Rin started at them suspiciously.

"What are they, Ma'am?"

Nygus shrugged.

"Some medicine or another that he's concocted. Do you want to take them?"

Rin was torn. For all she knew, they were knockout pills and she'd be vivisected if she took them. However, if she wanted any chance to make a protest in Crona's defense, she'd need to get the Hell out of bed and request and audience with Lord Death.

She sighed. She was dead to the world laying like this anyway, right?

"Yes, please."

Nygus nodded, dropping them into Rin's mouth and giving her a sip of water.

Rin thanked her.

Nygus had just nodded and stood to leave, tossing a little piece of information over her shoulder.

"Oh, by the way, Rin- I didn't mention, they're supposed to put you to sleep for close to fifteen hours. When you wake up, you'll be just about ready to move again, but take it easy when you stand up- it's going to make you dizzy, and you'll likely be hallucinating for at least the rest of the day afterward."

Rin gawked in horror.

"You didn't tell me he was sedating me! Fifteen hours is more than enough time for a vivisection!"

Nygus shrugged.

"I knew you would probably reject the medicine, so I left that part out."

With that, she'd left Rin to doze off.

Rin frowned.

'_Nygus shouldn't have done that! At least I'm supposed to be able to move soon. The second I can move my legs, I need to haul ass out of bed and find a mirror. Crona's life might depend on what I have to say!_'

Rin waited impatiently, watching bright colors spin around the room and dance across the floor for around an hour until she could finally move her legs. She still had no feeling in her arms, but as long as she could walk, she didn't care. She flopped out of bed and began stumbling to the door, trying to keep the room from spinning. She was still wearing her sweater, pants, and parka, and her hair was still just as messy as it had been when she'd left for the dance. She didn't have time to worry about her looks, though. She just had to find a mirror- any mirror.

When she encountered the door, she realized that her arms were still too numb to use to open it. She pushed and pushed with her shoulder until he door flew open and she flopped over on her face, dazed for a moment before she could stand back up. When she could, she struggled to her feet and began her undignified march down the hallway, stumbling and falling regularly as everything around her changed, spun, and spoke.

'_Damn you, Professor Stein,_' She thought, '_I can't tell what's real and what isn't! But I won't let that stop me from finding a mirror. Nothing will!_'

Then, she bumped into Maka.

"Sorry!" She yelped, trying to go around, "The medicine makes me dizzy!"

Maka gaped in horror.

"What are you doing out of the infirmary? I thought you were going to be in there for at least a few days! How can you be up already?"

Rin shook her head.

"I can feel my legs so I need to talk to Lord Death right away to save Crona. The walls won't tell me where any mirrors are- can you help me find one?"

Rin realized just how horrible that statement must have been the second it left her mouth. Exactly how high did this bloody medicine make her? Talking walls? Had she really just said that?

Maka frowned, seizing Rin's wrist.

"That's it. You aren't well enough to be out of the infirmary yet. You're coming with me right now!"

Rin shook her head.

"You made Crona cry! I saw you! You just want me to go back so that I can' talk to Lord Death and put my word in for him! Well, it's not going to happen! I'LL LOSE AN ARM BEFORE I GO BACK IN THERE, PIGTAILS!"

With that, she leaped, trying to yank her arm out of Maka's grasp, or at least out of socket so that she could get away. Instead, she found herself laying on the floor with a sore jaw and a cut in the place where her wrist had torn.

"YOU THINK I WHAT?"

Maka demanded, red in the face.

Rin met her with an even tone.

"I THINK YOU'RE TRYING TO MAKE ME LET CRONA DOWN! I SAW YOU BEAT HIM UP AND HIT HIM WITH A BOOK! Well, I'll tell you this: He's my friend. I'll go down before he does!"

Rin lashed out, weakly attempting to bite Maka's sleeve. Too dizzy to aim, she missed and wound up sinking her teeth into the bottom of her own numb arm and biting down hard enough do make blood ooze out of the lines of veins.

Maka screamed and let go, giving Rin an opportunity to take off down the halls. She didn't make it far before Maka tackled her to the ground.

"You have the wrong idea!"

She insisted, holding Rin to the floor.

"Crona is my friend, too. I had to fight him at first. Did you notice how I didn't really hit him so hard? I wasn't trying to hurt him. I offered him my friendship, and that's why he cried. He was happy."

Rin looked at her spinning, neon-colored polka dot face, looking for any sign of a lie.

"Promise you weren't trying to hurt him?"

Maka smiled.

"Promise."

Rin sighed.

"I'm sorry for accusing you wrongfully, but it really did look suspicious from where I was. Can you forgive me?"

Maka nodded.

"I forgive you."

She allowed Rin to sit up.

"Can we be friends now, too?"

Rin asked, trying not to fall back down.

Maka nodded.

"Yes. We can look out for Crona together!"

Rin grinned widely.

"Together!"

She agreed before throwing herself to her feet.

"Now, to go put in a good word for Crona!"

She made it three steps before flopping over on her face, losing consciousness thanks to her several falls, loss of blood, and still high flu fever.

Maka sighed.

'_Guess I better put that good word in for Crona instead_,' She decided, '_And I should probably get her back to the infirmary before she bleeds out..._'


	6. The Death Room

Rin woke up to find herself once more in her bed in the infirmary, but now her beloved coat was off and she had several I.V.s in her arms.

"Maybe wandering out of the room while I was still full of wacky pills wasn't such a good idea..." Rin muttered, felling sharp pains in her face and arm.

She glanced around the room, noting that it was no longer colorful or spinning. That was a good sign.

'_Well,_' She thought, '_I guess I'm better now. I wonder if I can leave yet?_'

She loathed being in hospitals, doctor's offices, and sometimes even the dentist had made her squirm. She just didn't like the feeling such places gave her- as though everyone around her was hurt or dying. A very eerie feeling, to say the least.

She waited for a few hours with nothing to do. She had taken to staring out the window, watching the occasional bird fly past.

'_I wish I could fly,_' She though. '_That would be so cool! I'd fly everywhere. All the time!_'

Eventually, Nygus walked in.

"Oh, good," She said, "You're awake. I'm going to take out your I.V.s. Sit tight, this might hurt."

Rin did her best not to yelp or jump as Nygus carefully removed the needles.

'_Needles..._' Rin thought, '_I don't like needles. Why, though? I should be more afraid of fire, but I'm just not! I don't understand...I just can't stand needles!_'

Nygus finished fairly quickly, and then helped Rin stand up.

"Now that that's over with, Lord Death wants to see you in the Death Room immediately."

Rin grinned.

"Perfect! I needed to talk to him anyway. Do I need a pass, or do I just go?"

Nygus pet her hand on Rin's shoulder.

"You just go. Don't worry, I'll walk you there."

Rin nodded.

"Okay."

She didn't bother aksing why she needed an escort as the put on her coat. She assumed that it was just because she'd broken out once and Nygus thought she'd do something else stupid and self-destructive without supervision.

'_Can't say I blame her..._' She thought, glancing down at her patched up arm. '_I can't believe I bit myself and tried to run off. At least Maka and I have things sorted out, though. I didn't really mind her until I thought that she was picking on Crona._'

Nygus steered Rin down the halls, keeping a close eye on her.

Rin didn't struggle or yell at the people who cast funny glances at her.

'_Let them gossip_,' She thought bitterly, '_I'll be old news eventually._'

When they arrived in the Death Room, Rin found that she wouldn't be alone. Professor Stein was waiting patiently next to Lord Death's mirror, and so was Maka's father. Both glared at her accusingly.

'_What'd I do?_' She wondered. '_Why are they mad at me? Maka's dad is probably mad at me for being mad at her...But what did I do to make Professor Stein so angry? Run out before the medicine wore off?_'

Nygus gave her a reassuring glance, then whispered, "Don't worry, I'm on your side."

That didn't assure Rin at all. Why were people so mad at her? She'd only really hurt herself, right?

Still, she smiled gratefully as Nygus marched her up to the mirror.

Lord Death didn't seem to have picked a side yet, as he greeted her just like he would anybody else.

"Hey, how's it hanging?" He asked, sounding kind of silly.

Rin looked at her feet. She hated talking to people with authority. It made her so nervous!

"Well, thanks. And you?"

Lord Death gave her a thumbs up.

"Great! But I think it's time we begin. So, I think I'll just get right to the point. Stein has noticed something startling about you. Stein, care to explain?"

Stein glared at her.

"You're a witch," He announced bluntly.

Rin stood in utter confusion. She was a what now?

"I can't be a witch!" She insisted, "I'm a weapon! I turn into a long sword and a scythe- you can't be a weapon and a witch, can you?"

Stein wasn't convinced.

"I can see your witch's soul right now. You're lying."

Rin just couldn't comprehend the idea of being a witch.

"How come nobody ever told me before?" She asked, genuinely curious. She figured that in fifteen years of living somebody would have mentioned SOMETHING about such an important concept.

Spirit jumped in.

"As if you don't know! You've been using Soul Protect!"

Rin shook her head.

"Soul Protect? You mean like the prayer Mom told me abut?"

Everyone started blankly until Lord Death broke the silence.

"Tell us about this 'Prayer' of hers." He coaxed her.

Rin thought back to when she was very young.

"Well, back before the people came and burned down my house, I lived with my parents and brother. Mommy said that it was very important to always say, 'Soul Protect on' to begin prayers in the morning so that you'd be protected when you walked through the day. She didn't say why, though, I just thought that everyone did that."

Nygus pat her on the head.

"See? She had no idea, either. Her mother told her to do it every morning, and she's been honoring her wish. She couldn't do it yesterday because Stein put her on medication!"

Stein scoffed.

"It was the quickest way to heal her injury. Aside from that, she agreed to take it."

Lord Death broke in.

"Well, I guess we can all see that it was just a misunderstanding. I don't see any problem with having a witch as a student so long as she doesn't break any rules."

Rin smiled.

"Thank you!"

Then, curiosity took hold.

"But now that I'm a witch, what do I do? Can I do anything magical, like fly or make my eyes point in opposite directions?"

Lord Death shrugged.

"That depends on what animal you're familiar with. Try concentrating on something like fur, or feathers. See if any of those make you change."

Rin nodded.

'_I hope I'm something really useful for battle when I change,_' she thought, '_If I am, maybe I'll finally find a partner! I can't wait! I hope I can fly, too. Flight means feathers, so I'll try feathers first._'

She focused on feathers as hard as she could. Owl feathers, pillow feathers, goose feathers... But it was no good.

'_Well, I guess I can't fly,_' she thought, feeling slightly disappointed, '_But maybe I'll still be something like a leopard, or a wolf, or maybe even a really big American Bulldog! I'll just have to focus on fur and hope for the best._'

She thought about every furry animal she'd ever petted, from cats to dogs to horses. Then, she pictured very soft, warm fur, gently being ruffled by a soft breeze.

She felt herself beginning to change.

'_This is it_,' She thought, squeezing her eyes shut, '_Please let me be something useful!_'

Finally, when she didn't feen any more sensations of change, she opened up her eyes. She almost immediately spotted her white paws and long whiskers.

"Well?" She asked, trying to get a better look at herself, "What am I? I don't think I'm a wolf..."

Nygus picked her up under the arms.

"You're a baby bunny. A pale gray and white baby bunny!"

Rin groaned.

"Oh, no! Am I at least a hare instead of a rabbit?"

Spirit looked at Stein.

"Aren't they the same damn thing?"

Stein shook his head.

"No. Hares ate bigger than rabbits, and they aren't as fluffy. She's a young rabbit."

Rin groaned.

'_I'm never going to find a partner..._'

"Well, the good news is she isn't anything dangerous! The bad news is I can't think of any good uses for a fluffy little rabbit on missions. Oh well! Maybe you'll think of something later. Anyway, unless there's something else you want to talk about, you're dismissed."

Nygus set Rin down.

"Actually," Rin dared to venture, "I wanted to ask about Crona...Have you done anything to him yet?"

Lord Death shook his head.

"Nope! Nothing yet. I've been putting off thinking of a punishment for him."

Rin sighed in relief, then hopped forward a little.

"Well...I'd like to put in a good word for him. He saved my life! Or...um...He got Professor Stein to save my life. Then he surrendered without a battle."

She turned to Spirit and Stein.

"Right? You two saw! You two took him in!"

Spirit nodded.

"It's true, Lord Death, he surrendered peacefully."

Rin wished she could see Lord Death's expression behind his mask. She needed to know what was going to happen to her friend! Unfortunately, the cold maks revealed nothing to her.

Lord Death's cheery voice was assuring, though.

"Well, I'll consider that whenever I get around to thinking of his punishment. If that's all, you're all dismissed. See you later, everybody!"

He returned to his mirror as everyone else turned to leave. Rin found that she had a hard time keeping up with the others in her bunny form. Still, she was in such deep thought about what might happen to Crona that she didn't even realize that she had no clue how to change back until it was too late and she was standing outside of her room, wondering how to get the heavy door open.

She groaned, holding back tears.

'_Why do I always do the stupidest things?_'


	7. Learning

Rin gaped at the heavy iron door. There was no way she'd be able to get it open as a three and a half pound bunny. She noticed the spot where someone could peer in and speak to a prisoner on the door, wondering if she could get up there and slip through the hatch.

'_It's worth a try._'

She hopped with all of her might, but she was still far from her mark. She tried again, and again, and again, but she still missed. Half an hour later, her lungs burned and her legs felt like noodles. She flopped over on the cement floor and decided to sleep there instead. After so much exercise, the cement felt almost as warm and soft as a nice brick in the sun. Deciding that close enough was better than nothing, she curled up with her fluffy tail over her nose. She'd figure out how to become a human again tomorrow.

She drifted off into sleep, reliving past events. The day she met Crona and lost her parents. Her brother teaching her how to fight without a meister. Telling stories to the other orphans on the ship. Being thrown overboard by another orphan and rescued by her brother, who then threw the other orphan overboard. The ship sinking. Meeting Maka and Soul out in the woods.

"OUCH, FUCK!" Rin jumped awake with a start as something stepped on her frail, fluffy frame.

Whatever had been squishing her removed its weight immediately, and Rin sat up and shook off. Behind her, Maka stood with a startled expression on her face.

"YOU TALK?"

Rin nodded.

"Maka! Am I glad to see you! It's me- Rin! Apparently, I'm a witch now. Lord Death says I can stay in the academy anyway, but I don't know how to become a person again so I fell asleep on the floor and then you stepped on me and now I'm not alone anymore!"

Maka took a moment to absorb what the furry little creature had just told her.

"Wait, you don't know how to change back?" She asked.

Rin shook her head. "No."

"Have you asked any of the professors?"

Rin shook her head once again. "I think most of them don't like me. Especially professor Stein. He really, really doesn't like me, as far as I can tell."

Maka thought for a moment. "Maybe Crona will know- he's lived around a witch for years!"

She lifted Rin off the ground, ignoring the other girl's complaints, and knocked on Crona's door.

"Crona! I have a visitor for you!"

Crona's voice sounded on the other side of the door.

"A visitor...?"

"Don't worry- it's not Professor Sid!"

She slid open the hatch so that she could look Crona in the eye.

"This is Rin. She's a witch, and she needs your help."

She shoved Rin through the small opening, leaving the surprised furry bundle to land ungracefully on the floor in a heap.

"Rin, you're a witch...? I don't know how to deal with this!"

"Crona, do you know how witches turn back into people from animal forms? I'm stuck as a bunny and I have no idea how to fix it and I've already been stepped on once and I don't want to be this size forever!"

Crona shook his head. "I-I don't know. Sorry, Rin..."

Rin sighed. "Not your fault I have no idea what I'm doing. So...Uh...Any suggestions on what I should say in class tomorrow when I show up as a rabbit?"

Maka thought for a moment. "Rin, you're a weapon, right?"

Rin nodded. "Yes, but what does that have to do with being a bunny?"

"Can you change into weapon form?"

"Yep!" She focused for a moment, then fell to the floor as a small sword.

"Can you change back to human from weapon form?"

Rin couldn't believe she hadn't thought of that before. She envied Maka's ability to think on her feet. Humiliated, she changed herself back into a human, happy to find herself back in the safety of her parka.

"I have thumbs again! Thank you, Maka!"

Maka grinned. "No problem. Why don't you keep Crona company for today? I'll tell Stein about me stepping on you so that you can be excused from class."

Rin rubbed her aching back.

"Thanks. I will! If any professors come by, I can hide under the bed as a bunny. It's perfect!"

Crona was shaking.

"Don't I get a say in this...? We could get in trouble. I don't want to get into any more trouble. I don't know how to-"

Rin cut him off.

"Nope! You've been lonely for long enough. Maka and I will watch over you from now on! Right, Maka?"

Maka nodded. "Right!"

With that, the blonde meister closed the metal hatch and left.

"So..." Rin began, hoping Crona would be willing to converse, "What do you usually do in here?"

Crona was clutching his arm.

"Cry in that corner."

'_Shit. That's heavy._'

"Er...How about we do something else instead for today?"

Crona shook his head.

"I don't know how to deal with new things."

"Well, have you ever made your bed before?"

"Yes..."

"This won't be very different from that. We're going to make a blanket fort!"

Ragnarok materialized from Crona's back.

"No, we're not! You're going to get the hell out of here!"

"I don't have to listen to you! You're a bully- not even a big bully anymore! Just a bully!"

Ragnarok's discontent was plainly evident. He cursed under his breath as he dissolved into Crona's back once more. All Rin could catch as he disappeared was, "She'll regret it later when she needs my help."

Ignoring him, she turned her attention back to Crona.

"So, ready for a pillow fort?"

"No."

"Too bad! We start by taking all the blankets and sheets off and throwing them on the floor in a pile. Then we move the mattress!"

Crona obeyed silently, assisting Rin in peeling the bedclothes off and throwing them on the floor. He was careful with the pillow, Rin noticed. He must have grown fond of the thing.

Once the bed was stripped, Rin tried lifting the mattress. It was bulky, heavy, and sagged as she lifted the end of it.

'_This thing weighs more than a load of bricks!_' Rin thought, gritting her teeth. What did they do to these mattresses to make them so heavy?

She was pleasantly surprised when Crona helpfully lifted the other end, making the weight more bearable. She pulled the old, lumpy cushion over the die of the bed and turned it sideways, so that the lengthy side was on the floor. After that, she cleared Crona from the end of the bed and tipped the mattress over, watching with a pleased expression as it was caught at the foot of the bed and stayed in place. It was a perfect lean to frame for the fort!

She pulled the blanket under the frame, folding it over its self and then smoothing the edges so that it formed a neat padding on the floor. After that, she instructed Crona to grab one end and mimic her movements as she flung the sheet into the air and pulled it over the top of the mattress. It wasn't a particularly beautiful fort, but it had been fun to make. The sheet had helped a little to hide the ugly mattress that made the frame.

"Now what?" Crona asked, starting at his barren bed blankly.

"Crawl into the fort and we can play a game or read a book or something."

"I don't have any books."

"Oh. What about any paper and pens?"

"No."

"Anything we could use as pretend people? Cool looking sticks or rocks or anything?"

"No."

"We'll just have to use our imaginations, I guess."

"I'm not very good at that. I haven't practiced. I don't know how to deal with new games!"

"You don't have to be good at it right away. You'll get the hang of it. How about we play a Knight game? I'll be the fierce fire-breathing dragon and ou can be the knight who vanquishes the evil beast! Oh-unless you want to be the dragon."

"I don't want to be the bad guy."

"Okay, I'll be the dragon."

She closed her eyes, pictured fur, and began to change. In no time flat, she was the fluffy gray and white rabbit again.

"Now," She squeaked, "Pretend I'm a dragon and I'm going to attack you."

She began snarling and hissing, fluffing up her fur and doing her best to make menacing growls in her tiny voice.

"What should I do?"

"I dunno. Whatever you'd do if a dragon was attacking, I guess."

Rin was caught completely by surprise as Crona kicked out hard, sending her flying out of the fort, under the dresser, and into the wall. Her head spun and she could feel her nose bleeding.

"Ow! Crona, you aren't supposed to hurt other people when you play pretend. It's just a play fight!"

"But you said to do what I'd usually do if I was fighting a dragon! If I was fighting one that looked like you, I'd kick it."

"That's not exactly what I meant..." She dragged herself out from under the dresser and shook out her fur. Her nose stung like fury and she saw double.

"I told you I wasn't any good at playing pretend..."

Rin rolled her eyes.

"I wasn't, either, the first time I played pretend. I had to learn how. Here, let's try again. Remember, though: Only pretend. You can kick me, just not hard enough that it'll hurt."

The rest of the day was spent on trial and error until an epic false battle was engaged. Small, fluffy paws battered Crona's heel, only to be countered by a soft kick backward. Rin rolled back in mock pain. "You may have taken my wing, but I'll still have the castle!"

Crona pushed her over. "Never! I'll defend it!"

"Oh, really? What if I told you I'm keeping a hostage? KISS THE PRINCESS GOODBYE!"

A dust bunny from under the dresser had been declared the Princess.

"A hostage? I don't know how to deal with this!"

"Take her back."

"Oh. Okay."

Crona grabbed the dust bunny.

"Nooo! The Princess has been saved!"

"That's right. Now go away- I beat you, and you have to leave, Dragon."

"I'm dead now."

"Okay."

"You won! You saved the princess, Crona! See? Pretending isn't so bad!"

A knock sounded at the door.

"Shit! I'll hide under the dresser."

Crona nodded, answering the door shakily.

"Who's there?" He called.

To Rin's relief, it was Maka.

"Crona, is Rin in there? She should get some rest. She's due back in class tomorrow."

"I'll get her."

Rin hopped out from under the dresser and didn't fight as Crona pushed her through the hatch and out of the room.

"Bye, Crona!"

"Bye, Maka. Bye, Rin."

"Bye! Don't forget to fix your bed!"

Maka cocked a brow.

"Did he break it?"

"Nope, I showed him how to make a blanket fort. Then I taught him how to play pretend."

"Aren't you two a bit old for games?"

"Yes, but he had a crappy childhood. Let him have some fun now. Besides, games are flipping awesome."

"Goodnight."

"Goodnight, Maka!"

Rin changed into a weapon, then a human and let herself into her room. She flopped over on the bed, exhausted from being stepped on and kicked. She dozed off quickly, dreaming of the days when she and her brother used to play pretend. Back then, she'd always played the knight and he the dragon. How she missed those days.


	8. Teasing

The next morning was terrible for Rin. She awoke exhausted, sore, and running late. She didn't have time to eat anything and she had to leave her hair down after brushing it for lack of time to braid. She had dried blood stuck to her nose from Crona's kick, and hadn't noticed until she got to class. She managed to wipe it off before her instructor walked into the room, thankfully, but she knew that some of the other students had seen it.

"Good morning, class," A cheery voice called, "My name is Miss Marie. I'll be your instructor for the duration of my stay at the DWMA, and I am pleased to meet you all. Before we begin, I would like for us to take attendance. Because I want to know you all better, I'm going to ask that today, when I call your name, you respond with your favorite food. Tomorrow you can respond with something else- your favorite animal, perhaps? By the end of this week, I should know much more about you!"

'_Oh, no,_' Rin though, burying her head in her arms, '_I don't want to talk. I like teachers that tell me to shut up and work because that means I can avoid talking to people! I'm going to make a fool of myself, just like I always do when I have to think on my feet. I'll have to think of my favorite food right now so I'm prepared when she calls my name. Maybe then I won't look silly? I really hope so. What's my favorite food again? Chocolate? Bacon? I don't think I ever really picked a favorite... Do I just pick one and call it close enough? I don't want to lie. Does it matter?_'

Miss Marie called names far too quickly for Rin.

"Natalie Matthews?"

"Chocolate."

'_Chocolate is out. I don't want to be a copy cat._'

"Timmothy Himura?"

"Pizza.

"Reika Oshiro?"

"Bacon."

'_Dammit! There goes chocolate and bacon, and Miss Marie isn't even going in alphabetical order! I have to pick quickly, before she-_'

"Rin Shizuka?"

"Coffee beans!" Rin squeaked out the first sweet food to come to mind. Instantly, she regretted her choice.

'_Why did I have to pick that of all things? Most people don't even count it as a food! I like it, but why did it have to be the first thing to come to mind?_'

"That explains why you're always so jumpy!" Some kid in the back row wasn't going to let that outburst past without a bit of teasing.

"Yeah!" Another kid added, "Maybe that's why you can't sit still."

"Did you know that too much coffee stunts your growth?" Some girl on the other side of the classroom girl added, "You should stop consuming it. You're on the small side as it is, and if you ever hope to catch up-"

"That's enough, class!" Miss Marie interrupted. "In many places, chocolate coated coffee beans are delicacies. Rin just has a different palate than you- that gives you no right to tease her. Stop your chatter and let's get back to attendance."

'_Thank you, Miss Marie!_' Rin thought, relieved. She could still hear snickers from her classmates, though, and she wasn't sure how much worse the day could get. She pulled her pink hood over her head and sunk down a few inches so that only her eyes peeked over the top of the desk. She wished she could disappear for a while.

Once attendance was over with, Miss Marie made an announcement.

"Class, I need you to get with your partners. Today we will be practicing soul resonance, and it is important that weapons and meisters can resonate with a frequency as strong as possible. The stronger the resonance, the stronger the attack. Spread out through the room and begin practicing!"

Rin watched students file down and meet up with their partners. Very soon, she was sitting alone at her desk, wondering whether or not to just hide for the rest of class.

"Rin?"

Too late. Miss Marie had seen her alone.

"Yes, Miss Marie?"

The words tried to stick in Rin's throat, but she managed to get them out. Her voice shook, but it still sounded less nervous than she felt.

"Where is your partner? I didn't see anyone absent when I took attendance."

Rin played with a bit of her hair.

"I don't have a partner, Ma'am."

"Do you plan to get one?"

"I had hoped to, but I don't think it's going to happen. That's okay, though- I can still fight. I won't be the first Autonomous weapon."

Miss Marie shook her head.

"You should still learn how to resonate properly. Come here- I'll put you in a group and you can all begin practicing group resonance."

'_Dammit, I just want to be alone!_'

"Thank you, Miss Marie."

Miss Marie stuck her with a group of two kids she didn't know. Because they were partners, and thus more compatible, they resonated first. After that, Rin took a moment to examine their souls. One had a very rambunctious soul- outgoing, and always in command. That was the meister. The other had a quiet, irritable soul. It was a shock that he could put up with his partner, but Rin didn't question it as she quietly matched their combined wavelength.

Miss Marie was impressed with her. She said that she wanted Rin to help demonstrate when the rest of the class was ready to learn. Rin didn't know what the big deal was- she'd always been good at matching wavelengths, so long as she didn't have to talk. Talking made her nervous and broke her concentration. It was one thing to talk with friends or family, but Rin had grown fearful of strangers while on the boar. The people of the town had been unkind to Rin after she lost her parents. The other orphans had been cruel until she really knew them. The sailors had never warmed up to her, and she even remembered an instance of being kicked aside by an agitated one as he carried some cargo to and fro. She'd had a nasty bruise for weeks thanks to him. Then there were her classmates. She didn't know them, but they'd been quick to leap in and make nasty remarks to her.

After all that, she'd come to a conclusion: For the most part, strangers were bad. She should avoid them if she could, and do her best to protect her friends from them. As far as she knew, she had no family left. If she wanted to keep the few people she cared about alive and well, she'd have to keep them put of danger, and that meant strangers were off limits in her book.

* * *

Thank you for all the positive feedback, everyone! I really appreciate knowing that people enjoy reading what I write.

For anyone wondering, I do have a brother in real life. He's a jerk sometimes, but I love him.


	9. Fighting

Rin met up with Maka and Crona after class.

"Hi, guys! How was class?" She asked, trying to sound less awkward than she felt. Black*Star was there. She hated being around him. He terrified her. He was loud, jumpy, unpredictable, she hardly knew anything about him, and worst of all, he resembled her brother. Seeing him was like a punch in the face- a grim, taunting reminder that she had no family.

Her brother had approxamately the same build as Black*Star- muscular and stocky looking, though he was taller. The first time Rin had seen Black*Star, it had taken her a heart-shattering moment to realize that it was the wrong person. Her brother had medium-length dark brown hair. It was spiked up in places, but not so much as Black*Star's. Rin had always thought that her brother's hair looked covered in little cowlicks.

"Nothing new," Black*Star answered, eager to be the first to speak. "It sucks! I've been dying for something to do! I'M GOING TO BE THE GREATEST ASSASSIN EVER!"

Rin wasn't sure how to reply to that. Black*Star scared the shit out of her.

"...Good for you?"

At least Tsubaki was there. Why a girl with such a level-head would hang out with a dick like Black*Star was beyond Rin.

"Maka and I got a new assignment," Soul reported, "And we're taking Crona along. Shouldn't be too hard. It'll be cool to have a mission."

"Congratulations!" Rin forced herself to look cheerful. Missions were never easy. There was too much danger involved. She was almost certain that someone was going to get hurt.

"Say," Maka added, "You haven't gone on a mission yet, have you?"

"No," Rin replied, "I don't have a partner and I suck at hand-to-hand combat. I'll have to train harder if I want to be an Autonomous weapon."

Liz cut in. "Oh, please. Do you know how hard it is to be a weapon on your own? Look, don't take this the wrong way, but-"

"YOU'RE A WIMP!" Patty finished for her sister.

'_Dammit. Do they have to point that out? I know I'm not a useful student, but they don't have to be so blunt about it._'

"I have to go," Rin lied, not wanting to continue the conversation, "Bye!"

She ignored Maka as she hurried down the stairs. Why were so many of Maka's friends so irritating?

She nearly crashed into someone at the bottom of the flight of steps in her hurry.

"Excuse me!" She squeaked, dodging the person in front of her.

"Watch it, short stop!" That voice did _not_ sound friendly. "I'm busy here."

Rin mumbled a quick apology, then glanced at her surroundings. She wasn't even on the right part of campus- it would take an extra fifteen minutes of walking just to get to her room.

"I don't know how to deal with this..."

Crona's whimper snapped Rin out of her thoughts of getting back home.

"Crona?" Rin glanced around the boy she'd just dodged to see Crona cornered, clutching his arm. Ragnarok was screaming at him.

"DUMBASS, JUST FIGHT HIM! HE CAN'T WIN! HE CAN'T TOUCH YOU, SO QUIT YOUR WHINING AND BE A MAN!"

"Shut up!" The boy hollered, raising his right arm. Clenched in his fist was a hunting knife. Not much of a weapon, really, but it was enough to do some damage.

"Just do it already!" The blade growled, sounding irritated. "He's a traitor! Let's just finish this now and go home."

"Are you talking about hurting Crona?" Rin demanded, clenching her fists and standing on her toes to look more formidable.

"What's it to you, girl?"

"He's my friend and I won't let you touch him."

"Is that so?"

"It is! I suggest you back the fuck off before I wipe the floor with your carcass!"

'_I can't take these two. Please don't call my bluff, please don't call my bluff, please don't call my bluff...!_'

"Fuck you."

'_Shit!_'

The boy dealt a powerful kick to Rin's stomach, knocking the wind out of her and nearly sending her off her feet.

'_Okay, Rin. You dug this hole, now you have to climb out. You have no meister to help, so it looks like you're on your own. Just fight like your brother taught you to. Remember: Eyes, nose, neck, stomach, and legs. If you can take any of those out, it slopes the fight in your favor._'

She glared at her opponent defiantly, shifting into a defensive stance as she did so. She never let her eyes leave the boy's -they would give away his next move, and she couldn't miss it. Silently, she allowed a long, curved blade to emerge from the skin of both of her forearms.

'_One to block, one to attack._'

The boy smirked, then dove forward. Rin ducked down, blocking her face and torso with her blades as the boy jabbed at empty air, Clearly, he was new to fighting and thought that quick, random movements would be effective.

"Welcome to the jungle, dumbass!"

She shot her right arm up and swiped it across the boy's extended hand, causing him to recoil back. His hunting knife partner fell to the floor with a clang and lay still, screaming.

"PICK ME UP AND FIGHT! DON'T LET A GIRL BEAT US, DUDE!"

"Asshole!" Rin screeched, kicking it a long way down the hall. "Pick on someone who I don't give a shit about next time!"

She turned her attention back to the meister.

"Why can't I move my fingers?" He demanded, holding his limp hand and attempting to stop the bleeding.

"All's fair in love and war," Rin explained with a smirk, "And that includes dirty tricks."

She held out her own hand with her fingers extended and bent slightly, showing the long tendrils that ran across the top of each.

"See these things? They're tendons. If you snap them, it hurts like Hell and you can't move whatever it was attached to. Like, ever again. I took out three of the ones that run across your fingers. I spared your thumb and index finger, though, since you kind of need those more. I was expecting more fight out of you- you fucking suck! Train before you go on a mission, or you'll get skinned alive and boiled in oil."

The boy glared hatefully at her.

"Wait until Lord Death finds out what the campus Witch did. You'll be expelled before you can say, 'idiot'!"

Rin crossed her arms.

"Go ahead and tell! Even if I am expelled, it won't be your name passing my lips! Now go get that bloody mess patched up, Idiot. You'll bleed out and I'm not hauling your fat ass upstairs!"

The boy's partner changed back and escorted him upstairs. Rin watched the loathing glances they flashed at her, meeting them with cold, unwavering eyes.

Once she was sure they were gone, she bounced over to Crona excitedly.

"DID YOU SEE THAT? I WON! I ACTUALLY WON! I'm not dead, and neither are you! I DON'T SUCK AFTER ALL!"

"But Rin, campus fights need a teacher to supervise...This fight didn't have one. He might be right. You could get in really deep trouble for permanantly damaging another student..."

Rin's belly churned. He wasn't kidding- she hadn't thought of the penalty for ruining three out of five fingers on another student's hand before she'd struck him.

"Let's go back to our rooms," She suggested quietly. "If you don't mind, I'd like a little help packing, just in case."

Crona nodded, but didn't meet her gaze. He was clutching his arm again.

'_You really fucked up this time, Rin. Your first fight, and your first victory, and what do you do? Ruin it. Kiss the DWMA goodbye._'

She mentally kicked herself as she led the way back to their rooms.


	10. Departing

One last sweater and all of Rin's belongings were packed. She glanced numbly around the now empty room and tossed her suitcase on the bed.

"Thanks for helping, Crona. This would have taken much longer without you. You, too, Ragnarok. I appreciate it."

Ragnarok had been surprisingly helpful in packing. He helped reach some of the things on the top shelves, which Rin would have had to climb up and knock to the floor before she could have packed them without the assistance.

'_Maybe he isn't such a douche after all_,' Rin reflected.

"Whatever. I just want you out faster!"

'_Or maybe he is. Pfft._'

Crona remained silent. He just stood in the corner, starting blankly at the floor and clutching his arm. Rin was worried that his nails would puncture the skin if he didn't loosen his grip.

She was about to say something when someone pounded on the door.

"Rin? Are you in there? Lord Death has summoned you. He wants you and Crona to report to the Death Room immediately. Would you like to walk next door with me and see if he'll come out?"

Rin silently thanked the Lord that it was Miss Marie that had been sent to fetch her. She was so cheery- it was hard to be afraid of her.

"Crona and I are in here, Ma'am. We'll come right out. Thank you!"

She took Crona's hand and guided him out the door. The walk to the Death Room seemed unnecessarily long and very awkward. Nobody spoke, and it was hard to avoid casting glances around and accidentally making eye contact with Crona or Miss Marie. When they Finally arrived, Rin thought she'd be sick as the doors opened.

"Lord Death?" Miss Marie called.

"Hello, Marie! Did you find Crona and Rin?"

"Yes, sir. They're here with me."

"Oh, good! Come in, come in!"

'_Holy fuck his cheerfulness makes it even scarier._'

Rin followed Miss Marie, trying not to drop too far behind. She knew what she'd done, and she knew she had to face the consequences. She glanced back at Crona.

'_He didn't do anything. If that fucktard I beat dragged him into this, I'll make him kick a wall with a toothpick under his toenails!_'

"Hello, Lord Death."

"Hello, Rin. I assume you know why I called you in here?"

She started at her feet.

"Because I got into an unauthorized fight with a meister on campus with no supervision and permanently damaged three out of five of his fingers."

"Nope! I have no problem with that as long as you get a teacher to watch you next time. I called you in here because you haven't gone on a mission yet and you need to get moving! I have an assignment for you. After Maka, Soul, and Crona return, you'll be going out on a mission of your own. Crona will accompany you. Be ready to leave around three days after they return."

"Where will I be going, Sir?"

"Not far from the city. I just want you to investigate some rumors I heard of a new shifty character living in the woods. See if he has anything to do with Asura. I wouldn't recommend a fight unless you have no other choice- from what I heard, this guy's dangerous! Just a little heads up."

"Thank you, Sir."

'_I'm going to die._'

Miss Marie smiled.

"I guess that's all, then?"

Lord Death shook his head.

"Nope! Crona, I called you here to give you that heads up, but also to tell you that you'll be leaving tomorrow. Good luck, and stick with Maka and Soul! Pack immediately and be ready to leave at dawn."

"Y-yes, sir."

Rin nudged Crona with her elbow.

"Don't worry- I'll help you pack. You'll be fine!"

After that, they were dismissed. Rin breathed a sigh of relief.

'_I can't believe fighting's okay on this campus so long as someone supervises. Shit can seriously go down._'

Back at Crona's room, Rin helped fold a few of his robes and made sure he had travle essentials such as a toothbrush, toothpaste, and a comb. After that, she sat with him on the end of the bed.

"Are you nervous?" She asked.

He just nodded, not meeting her gaze. This first mission was going to be sink-or-swim for him. If something went wrong, he'd likely be blamed and quite possibly executed. Rin frowned.

"Don't be."

She pushed him off the bed and then proceeded to tear it apart. He didn't protest.

Silently, they flipped the matress onto the long side and shoved it against the bed to make an A-frame shape. After that, they covered it with the sheet and Rin dragged the blanket down under it to pad the fort's floor. Once that was done, she took the pillow and tossed it to Crona.

"If you can build a fortress out of a fucking bed, you can hang out with two awesome friends for a few days and fulfill your mission. Don't be scared- you'll do an awesome job, and when you get back you and I will go stalk some person we don't know to see if he's crazy or not. And for tonight, you have a cool fort to sleep in. I'll bring you my blanket so you can stay warmer. In the morning, I'll give you a good luck charm to keep you safe."

Crona smiled.

"Thank you..."

Rin was already heading out the door. She walked to her room, grabbed the blanket off her bed, and dragged it back to Crona's blanket fort. Once it was laid neatly over the bottom, she was satisfied.

"That should do it. 'Night, Crona!"

She didn't wait for an answer. Closing his heavy door behind her, she walked back to her room and flopped onto the bed. The stress of the day, coupled with the heavy lifting of the old mattress while making the pillow fort had worn her out.

'_I'll get up early tomorrow and find something outside to give Crona as a good luck charm. I can't actually do anything to it, as far as I know, but I just want to reassure him with something._'

With that, she let her mind wander off into the bliss of sleep.

_**~~~BEEP! BEEP! BEEP! BEEP!~~~**_

Rin grumbled softly as she turned off her alarm and sat up in bed. It was four thirty in the morning and the moon still grinned at the world below, casting dim light through her window.

'_I hope I can find something for Crona before the sun comes up._'

She hurriedly shrew on her sweater, a pair of black pants, her tennies, and of course her pink parka, then hurried out the door as quietly as she could. She wandered out under an old pine tree and glanced around that what she had to work with. The tree was producing an abundance of sap from a place where some local hooligan had cut a wide gash in the bark.

'_Too bad it isn't hard yet_,' Rin thought, '_Amber is a beautiful present_.'

Then she spotted a small object on the ground- a little silver bell. It appeared to have fallen off of something larger- there was a string still tied to it. She picked it up and gave it a little shake, enjoying the little jingling sound it made. Rin had always loved the sound of bells. She pulled the string off and put the bell in her pocket before heading back to the academy.

When she got back, it was five in the morning and the sun would soon be up. She knocked softly on Crona's door.

"Crona?" She called in a hushed voice, not wanting to disturb the silence that accompanied the dark. A moment later, Crona cracked the door open and muttered a welcome.

By six, Crona was ready to go. Rin had offered him the bell, but he'd turned it down, saying that he didn't need it. Apparently, he had some other good luck charm, but Rin couldn't imagine what.

'_Maybe he has a special stone or something from when he was a kid_.' Rin thought as she led him to the courtyard, where Maka and Soul were already waiting.

"Hi, Crona!" Maka greeted, waving as they approached, "Hi, Rin! Are you coming with us, too?"

Rin shook her head.

"No. I just wanted to walk Crona and say goodbye to you three. I hope you all get back soon- it's going to be lonely without you."

Maka shook her head.

"It won't be that bad- you still have Kid, Liz, Patty, Tsubaki, and Black*Star."

Rin put on her best fake smile.

"I know. You're right, Maka- I won't be alone."

'_With that kind of crowd to hand around, I'll prefer to be alone! Too bad Tsubaki's always with Black*Star. I guess it's for the better, though. He needs a babysitter, anyway!_'

With a sinking feeling in her stomach, she waved goodbye to her friends.

'_I have a bad feeling that someone's going to get hurt. Please, please, please, please please return safe!_'


End file.
